In today's door access control systems, there are many places that have adopted RFID doorlocks for improved door access control functions. According to a survey of a physical access control market research, more than 70% of the end-users and 80% of industry respondents believe that in the next 3 to 5 years, hope to use mobile phones, key cards, smart label or alternative devices to replace conventional locks and keys. The survey is further proof that the market will usher in a major smart lock revolution. Lock Industry experts have said that the current number of locks sold in China is about 2.2 billion per year or more. Looking at just the fingerprint recognition technology application statistics alone, for example, it is estimated that including financial, military, office space, luxury residential, including commercial and residential market applications, there is about 500 million units per year in market demand for the fingerprint recognition access control system, according to recent web article from www.chinairr.org published on 2014 Sep. 30 (China Industry Research Reports).
However, the conventional smart door locks are typically in the form of RFID doorlocks or Bluetooth activated smart doorlocks. If someone already has a RFID doorlock, it would not be possible to easily upgrade the existing RFID doorlock to that of a Bluetooth smart doorlock. In other words, the existing RFID doorlock has to be completed removed, while replaced by a new Bluetooth smart doorlock installed on the door (for replacing the previous RFID doorlock altogether). Meanwhile, after installation of the new Bluetooth smart doorlock, the previous RFID tags being used as keys for opening the previous RFID doorlock can no longer work on the new Bluetooth smart doorlock, so that the new Bluetooth smart doorlock must be limited to be activated only by Bluetooth capable mobile devices.
Therefore, there is a need in providing a more integrated door access control solution that would be flexible enough to provide both RFID access control as well as Bluetooth access control, thereby improving the overall door access control needs for users.